Aside from the beach and pool we had a few other ‘excursions’ during our 10 days away.  Two of my lovely friends from my June 2011 online mummies group live in Brissy and we try to catch-up when we can.  They made the trip up to the Sunshine Coast last August when I was very pregnant with a Soren, so we thought we’d head down this time.  Michelle was lovely enough to let us invade her house yet again and the almost three year olds (Astrid, Finlay, Lucas & Jacob) had a lovely morning playing together, with trains, and with Ruby the dog…….

Of course the awesome foursome had to pose for their traditional photos together, and this time even Soren got in on the act.

It was the first time Michelle and Tania had met Soren, so they got plenty of cuddles!

On our many visits to the Sunshine Coast, we had never been to The Ginger Factory, which is in Yandina, a 20 minute drive from my parents house.  My mum thought Astrid would be keen for a train ride and a look around so we headed there for an afternoon adventure.

Astrid and Soren enjoyed their steam train ride around the grounds, and then we had a wander around the lovely gardens.

After some lunch, and while Soren slept in the ergo, we went on the ‘boat ride’. Which was a boat ride through an indoor puppet show, telling the story of the gingerbread man escaping from some hungry chefs and running through 13 different countries.  In each country you had to spot the gingerbread man. Astrid loved it and did a fantastic job of spotting the gingerbread man. As the ride was quiet, we were allowed a second go around so she got twice the fun…….. and Soren some how still slept through the whole (very noisy) thing!

We finished off with a wander through the many touristy shops and an icecream.  Astrid was definitely not going to let us leave without the icecream she had been promised!

Unfortunately Soren woke up just as the icecream was being consumed and was very disappointed he wasn’t allowed to have any (irate, might have been a more apt description). Sadly for him he is 7 months old and lactose intolerant……..

Of course during our stay there was also quite a lot of eating. A dinner out for Indian (which both Astrid and Soren demolished), lots of seafood cooked by Anto (Astrid adores scallops it would appear)……. and a few treats here and there like churros.

I think the kids had a pretty good time catching up with their Queensland rellies!

I’m sure we will be back again when we get sick of the Canberra cold.